After only two months on the beat in Kapiti, the district's new female top cop was injured arresting a man wielding a plank of wood.

Senior Sergeant Anita Dixon suffered a head injury - a small cut and bump - while arresting two men yelling and shouting at each other in a street off Kapiti Rd in the Paraparaumu CBD area about 2.20am on Saturday.

One of the men was wielding a piece of wood and some neighbours got involved in the dispute.

The two were arrested and the man with the piece of wood was charged with resisting arrest, possession of an offensive weapon and threatening behaviour. He is to appear in Porirua District Court next month.

Ms Dixon replaced Senior Sergeant Alasdair Macmillan as head of Kapiti police late last year after working at Wellington central for 16 years. Her most recent job was in the intelligence section.

In a recent interview, Ms Dixon said she liked "the family feel" at the small Kapiti station. Her new responsibilities included overseeing staff, public relations, community liaison and building strong working relationships with other organisations.

"It is more of a manager role, but I can still go out and attend jobs . . . it's very different from what I have been doing, so that brings challenges. I still get a buzz out of putting on my uniform every day.

"I have never taken for granted the very cool job I have . . . coming to work every day to make the community safer."

Police spokesman Nick Bohm said she did not have any specific comment about the incident but was "taking it all in her stride".

While at Wellington central she worked as a shift commander running one of the frontline staff sections and although she did not respond to emergency calls, was out on the street regularly.